The War of Krypton
by S-Shield
Summary: In the final days of Krypton, General Zod seeks to escape destruction by fleeing to Earth and becoming a god.  The only person standing in his way is Jor-El, the father of Kal-El.
1. Chapter 1

_There is a festival upon the planet Krypton, to celebrate the day that the great science hero and explorer, Kem-L, returned from his voyages in outer space. _

_The first and greatest member of what would later be known as the House of El brought back with him untold treasures of science and technology, gathered together from the far reaches of the 28 known galaxies. _

_But the greatest discovery, by far, was that of a planet, third in its line, orbiting a fresh, young, yellow star. _

_Kem-L spoke often of the people of this world, of their courage and kindness, of their races and creeds, so different and yet so like those of Krypton. He spoke of the green grasses, and the blue waters. But, to the eternal dismay of Kem-L and all those who would follow in his bloodline, all anyone desired to know about was the yellow sun._

_Kem-L explained that under the rays of a yellow sun, Kryptonian physiology changed rapidly, prolonged exposure to that alien environment would afford one a great many powers and abilities, far beyond those of mortal men. On this new world, the average Kryptonian male was more powerful than an entire army. The elements themselves bowed down to his very will. _

_Yes, on the third planet from the star Sol, any Kryptonian could become a god. And even on a seemingly perfect world like Krypton, whose inhabitants wanted for nothing, there were men who would gladly and willingly step into the role of God. _

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Jor-El, the greatest scientist and statesman of his generation, returned to his living quarters, relieved yet uneasy. Having just spoken before the largest assembly of Kryptonian Elders in history, he needed a moment to collect himself before seeing anyone else.

Many people called Jor-El great, and perhaps his public persona was just that. Brilliant, stoic and morally steadfast, Jor-El was everything a leader of Krypton and scion of the House of El should be. On the outside.

But alone, when it counted, Jor-El was simply another man, as flesh-and-blood as any other, with the same fears and weaknesses that afflict all men.

He simply knew what was expected of him.

Just as he started to feel more like himself again, the door leading deeper into his ancestral home hummed with life and began to rise.

The door opened, and there stood the most beautiful woman imaginable, tall and proud, with light yellow hair.

Lara.

"How did it go?" his wife asked as she glided to his side.

Jor-El embraced her, not speaking for a moment, as he simply drank in the feel of her.

"It went well," he said, releasing her. "The Council agreed with me, in the end."

"How could they not?" she smiled at him playfully. "You are Jor-El."

"Yes, but he is Zod," he sighed. "And there are many on the Council who still remember the day General Zod defeated Black Zero, and took revenge for the destruction of Kandor."

"But who rebuilt Kandor?" Lara asked, rhetorically. "Zod knows only how to destroy, not create. To even entertain this notion of his! The Council is trying to placate a mad man! Zod has brought war to Krypton before and if he isn't stopped-"

She caught herself as she saw Jor-El smiling down at her.

"Perhaps you should have spoken at the Council today instead of me?" he said, admiring as always the great passion that resided in her.

"I do not think I would have aided your cause," she smiled back. "What does it matter, now? You are home. You say the Council agreed with you. It is done."

"For now, yes," Jor-El replied, sighing as he thought of the day's battles. He ached to return to the simplicity of his laboratory.

"You are right," he said at last. "It is time now for rest, to renew myself for what lays ahead. For now, Earth's fate is secure, free from Zod and his minions.

"Now," he smiled at her, "let me go and see my son."

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"Jor-El is a fool!" Tor-An sputtered as he entered the War Room.

General Zod looked up at the Councilman, across the crystal displays relating maps of the planet's surface and population, noting the man's sloppy appearance, and the way he had let himself go over the years. They were the same age, and yet the General looked much younger and healthier than the fat oaf before him. Zod did not generally like to be in the company of men who could not control themselves, both physically and emotionally.

Tor-An had his uses politically. But the man grated on him.

"Not at all," Zod assured in his most pleasant demeanor. "Jor-El simply wants what is best for our people, the same as I. We merely have different opinions as to what that 'best' really is."

"But the people are dying, Zod!" As if Tor-An had to remind the General. "All over the planet, the Green Sickness strikes, weakening every man, woman and child it touches. We may have been able to quarantine those affected, but this is still an epidemic."

"That it is," Zod sighed as he rose from his chair and he poured himself a drink.

No one knew where the Green Sickness had come from. It simply struck one day, without warning. Initially infecting large numbers of former Labor Guild members, the symptoms included fatigue and disorientation. In the most progressed cases, intense pain occurred throughout the body, accompanied by a green tinge to the swollen and distended veins, which stood out in sharp contrast to the sick, pale skin.

"And as you have said, the only sure way to combat this mysterious ailment is to transplant our people to the Earth. The curative powers of the Yellow Sun are the only hope our people have of recovery. And yet Jor-El frightens the Council into submission, driven by nothing more than fear and superstition!"

"I think it is a little more than superstition that guides Jor-El's hand," Zod said.

"Nonsense! He is simply afraid of the Curse of Rao. Like some child, he believes that those of us who reach too far and try to claim the power of Yellow Sun will meet some horrible end. Either that or he places more value on the lives of the filthy sub-Kryptonians who inhabit that world than he does his own people. The idiot!"

"That is enough, Councilman," Zod growled at last, focusing his cold gaze upon Tor-An. "Calm yourself."

Tor-An swallowed hard under Zod's withering stare.

"You are right, General. I apologize. I lost myself for a moment," Tor-An wiped the sweat from his forehead. "So, what is our next move?"

"Our next move?" Zod asked with a raised eyebrow. "We have none. The Council has sided with Jor-El. And until they are shown evidence to the contrary, they will not reverse their decision. For the time being, we must put all our efforts to finding the cause of the Green Death, and stamping it out. For the sake of all Krypton."

"Yes!" Tor-An smiled confidently, his weak spirit buoyed by Zod's determination. "I will go, and see what progress the Science Guild has made in their research. Thank you, General!"

And with that, Tor-An turned and left the room.

Zod sat for a moment within his study and sipped at his wine.

It was true that Jor-El had beaten him today. But any good General knows how to handle defeat. And Tor-An had a point, Jor-El's devotion to the indigenous peoples of the Earth was most disturbing, given the dire situation that approached Krypton. But all was not lost, there was still time for Jor-El to change his mind, and come around to Zod's way of thinking. It had happened before...

And if nothing else, the knowledge of Jor-El's love of the Earthlings could yield results all their own.

Zod touched a secret panel on his desk, removing part of the left-hand wall.

Descending the short flight of stairs, Zod now stood in an oddly-lit room, filled with humming machines and crystals, all feeding life and power to a large glass tube in the center of the enclosure.

Zod gazed upon the creature within. It blinked at him with dull red eyes, and its rough grey mouth tried to make sounds through the liquid in which it floated.

Zod gazed appreciably at the hard bone spikes that protruded from various joints, at the elbows, shoulders and knees.

A perfect killing machine, carved out of his own flesh and blood.

"My son," Zod smiled as he placed his hand on the glass. "You are beautiful."

Yes, if Jor-El so greatly valued the lives of the humans, then there were ways for Zod to turn even that to his advantage. All he needed was the right leverage. Like any good General.

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S-Shield's Notes

This is my attempt to make a coherent story out of the various on-screen references to Krypton's destruction from the TV series Smallville, while maybe throwing a few comic book references in there to smooth things out.

And yes, if you read this before and noticed a difference, I edited it and added a few paragraphs.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think with a review.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Councilwoman Alura stood alone before the main command module for the Brain Inter-Active Construct, bathed in the gentle glow of the computer screen, imputing all data related to the recent climate shifts at Krypton's northern pole.

There was a belief among several Council members that the growing epidemic of Green Sickness was in some way related to the melting of the polar icecaps. The fear was that some prehistoric pathogen, long frozen in the arctic wastes, had been released from its icy tomb, to spread rampant among the populace.

Being both a scientist and a learned member of the Council, Alura found this theory to be ridiculous and baseless. But fear had that effect on people, causing them to grasp at any straws that could potentially save them.

And so now Alura must waste precious time and resources disproving this outlandish theory, using the most powerful computer ever built.

The Brain Inter-Active Construct had been designed over a century ago, by the reclusive and mysterious genius Dax-Ur.

After a string of scientific successes that had literally changed the entire landscape of Kryptonian thinking, Dax-Ur set out to create his greatest invention. A computer, armed with all the knowledge of one of the oldest and most powerful races in the universe, coupled with reasoning skills of the humanoid mind, which would be placed in charge of the planet, running every aspect of Kryptonian life.

Legend says that once Dax-Ur realized the magnitude of his artificial intelligence machine, essentially a programmable god with the power to enslave or destroy worlds, he abandoned the project, and fled to one of the lesser worlds in a blind panic, swearing that BrainIAC would never be unleashed upon creation.

When he left, Dax-Ur took many of the vital equations and source codes with him. For a generation, scientists made entire careers on pulling bits and scraps out of BrainIAC, laying the foundation for all of Krypton's artificial intelligence systems, from the servant droids to the teaching units.

It was not until recently that BrainIAC was given life, finally completed by the only man equal to the task Dax-Ur began.

Jor-El.

Jor-El had shared his predecessor's fears and concerns regarding the level of power that could be placed into the hands of one who had so little experience using it. Only one thing could force Jor-El to submit to a project fraught with so many perils.

Because doing so was the only way to end a war.

But even so, Jor-El had made some modifications of his own, limiting BrainIAC's emotions and free-will, never allowing him access to the full range of sentience he possessed.

Not that it was hard to get around Jor-El's protocols, Alura smiled as she looked up at the screen.

BOOM!

A sudden bust of light and sound blew her off her feet.

When she opened her eyes a minute later, someone was standing above her. A grim figure, all in black, with cruel eyes and an amused smirk on his face.

"Zor-El!" Alura shrieked.

"Hello, my beloved wife. I've come to ask a favor."

Alura stared up at this brutal and insane man. She couldn't breathe for a moment as she thought of him, and all she knew he was capable of. But then, a thought occurred to her, building up until she could not longer contain it, washing away the fear.

"Where is my daughter!" she screamed.

Zor-El smiled. "You mean my daughter. And she is safe. Now-" he said as he reached down and jerked her up off the ground. "-I need information! The Teleporters to Earth have been shut down. I need them reopened. I also need all the information on Jor-El's cloning experiments related to the Orb of Kandor along with any and all research on the properties of yellow sunlight!" he barked at her.

Alura stood staring at him for a moment.

And then she laughed.

"After all this time, you still haven't changed. You know why your brother is more highly regarded than you! Because you lack focus!"

"Give me what I want!"

"How did you even get in here? Every door is monitored, and you are a wanted man. A criminal!"

He smiled that superior smirk at her, and held up a small crystal device with a batch of wires threaded throughout. "Something even your precious Jor-El couldn't think up. It makes me invisible to artificial intelligence. I can go anywhere I want. Now, give me what I came for!"

"No!" Alura stood firm.

"Make no mistake Alura, I will kill you, and simply take what I need from the computer."

He advanced on her.

"SECURITY COMPROMISED IN COMMAND MODULE!" BrainIAC's voice announced throughout the building. "TROOPERS ALERTED TO THREAT AND EN ROUT!"

"How?" Zor-El shouted as he looked from his device to the computer. "It's impossible! Unless…" he turned his gaze back to Alura. "What have you done to it?"

"Nothing" she lied.

"It's sentient. If it can see me, that means it's truly alive. What about the block's Jor-El put in place? How did you break them?" he asked, his anger now gone, replaced with a mix of scientific curiosity and jealousy.

"TROOPERS WILL ARRIVE IMMENTINTLY!"

Alura stared back at him. "You had better go, if you value your life."

Zor-El glared at her, his face red with blood and anger.

He turned quickly, and bolted through the door, racing down the hallway to escape.

Alura waited a moment, frozen in place until she knew he was gone. Then she collapsed on the floor, and began to weep.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

The question startled her. She had not expected it. Even after all this time with it, she still saw it as a machine. But she should have known better.

The voice, despite its metallic expression, now contained something else.

"Yes, I am fine," she said. "Thank you."

"YOU ARE WELCOME. I FEARED FOR YOUR LIFE."

She gazed up at it in genuine wonder. What was it turning into?

"I know. Thank you," she said again.

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S-Shield's notes

The twisted and unpleasant marriage of Zor-El and Alura is something I extrapolated from Zor-El's episodes of Smallville. He is evil, manipulative, and tried to kill his brother and force himself on his wife. They would not have a happy marriage.

This version of Alura is my own creation. We never see her on the show, but again, I figured that after losing Lara, Zor-El would pick a wife who was politically useful and perhaps a bit easy to intimidate. But I knew she'd be strong willed when it came to her daughter. The idea of her being on the Council came from the comics.

All the Brainiac stuff mostly comes from the show, but I tried to give it a little more clarity, and explain why both Dax-Ur and Jor-El are given credit for creating Brainiac.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think with a review.


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